


Appreciated

by smoothui



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship/Love, M/M, but it's ok, he redeems himself, taeyong's kind of a jerk at first
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 20:52:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8117173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoothui/pseuds/smoothui
Summary: Everyone has a bad day and takes it out on Donghyuck, who's more fragile than he seems. Donghyuck likes to pretend he's not affected but Mark can see through his front.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i love these boys 2 much rip  
> donghyuck is a precious child protect him at all costs pls n thx

“DONGHYUCK!”

Mark watched the way the younger boy flinched at the sound of his name being screamed for the fourth time that day, a withering look on his face as he stared down at the shards of glass on the floor.

Donghyuck pressed his lips into a tight line, not bothering to look up at a glowering Taeyong who was standing in front of him. Most of the shattered cup lay between the two, but thousands of pieces had spread to the area around them. Donghyuck could see the tiny shimmering pieces a few feet away from where he stood and wondered how much it would hurt to get one of them stuck in his foot.

That would be another reason to get yelled at.

“Don’t. Move,” Taeyong commanded as he carefully stepped around all the pieces of glass, rushing off to get a broom and dust pan to clean the mess up before anyone could get injured.

Mark readjusted from his spot on the couch, eyes trained on his best friend. With Taeyong gone from his immediate presence, Donghyuck’s face contorted into one of confusion and hurt. He let out a heavy sigh, eyes wavering around the area until he noticed Mark. Mark’s expression had to have been one of pure pity, for Donghyuck straightened up significantly and recomposed himself.

Taeyong came rushing back into the room at that moment, sweeping up the shards of glass while muttering under his breath.

“What is wrong with you today? Why can’t you do anything right?”

The older male’s words stung. Donghyuck desperately wanted to refute, tell him that _he_ was the one that dropped the glass, not him, but he didn’t want to fight anymore. He’d spent the entire day arguing back his innocence to deaf ears but it hadn’t done any good. The back-talk had only angered his hyungs further, labeling him as a disrespectful dongsaeng for the rest of the day.

He hadn’t even done anything wrong, he’d just _been there_ when bad things had happened and for some reason everyone decided to blame him for their problems. He was the scapegoat due to his normally impish behavior and sure that was his fault, but everyone knew everything he did and said was harmless and in good nature.

Donghuck had been a perfectly behaved child the entire day, and yet the other members had been treating him like he was the most irritating person in the world. The only people that had yet to yell at him were Mark and Sicheng, and he was fairly sure that the only reason Sicheng hadn’t was because of his lack of ability to express himself. Sicheng had only given him a mean look, but Donghyuck had never seen the Chinese male look so scary before.

“I’m sorry,” Donghuck apologized, surprising Mark with how steady his voice was. For someone who had just looked like a kicked puppy, he was acting rather well.

“Just go to our room or something,” Taeyong ordered once he’d collected most of the glass, deeming it safe enough to walk through. He did another scan of the area as Donghyuck brushed past him, stalking off to their shared room to lay down and hopefully sleep through the rest of the night.

Donghyuck laid awake until far after he heard Taeyong come in and lay down.

 

Mark waited until all the other members had retreated to their rooms to sleep for the night before he got up and walked to Donghyuck and Taeyong’s room. He turned the door knob slowly to make sure that he softened the sound of the door opening and slipped into the darkness of the room.

The room smelled crisp and clean, like sanitizing wipes, combined with the overwhelming scent of lavender air freshener. Mark wouldn’t be able to live in the room without getting a headache every ten minutes, and he had no idea how Donghyuck could.

He stumbled over a few things on his was over to Donghyuck’s bed but made it without knocking anything over or stubbing his toes too badly. He was lucky that Taeyong kept the room as clean as humanly possible, at least for a clean-freak who roomed with a sixteen year old, or he would have probably tripped and died on his journey.

Mark felt his way to the head of the bed and sat down on the edge, wanting only to disturb his best friend just enough to wake him, if he wasn’t already awake. A rustle of sheets and a displeased sigh alerted him to the boys’ state of consciousness.

“What do you want _now_?”

The question was asked with a bitterness that Mark hadn’t expected to be directed towards him. He couldn’t see well since it was dark in the room, but from the lump he could make out and the distant voice, Mark assumed that he was laying with his back to him.

“Dude. We love you.”

Mark heard the younger boy scoff, no doubt thinking the words were ridiculous.

“To get all sappy and sentimental on me, great.”

“I’m serious,” Mark assured, “we love you.”

Donghyuck stayed quiet for about a minute after that. Mark almost spoke again but he wanted to give the boy a chance to speak on his own accord. A sniffle sounded, and when Donghyuck finally spoke again, his voice sounded like it was trying not to crack.

“I don’t need your reassurance. Of course everyone loves me. It would be impossible not to.”

“Donghyuck,” Mark sighed, staring blindly at the darkness in front of him. He reached a hand out, grasping what he assumed to be his best friends upper arm. “Stop faking confidence already. I know that’s not how you really feel.”

“ _I don’t know what you’re talking about._ ”

Mark groaned at the defensive tone, minding to keep his voice down in case he woke Taeyong. “Can I just—“

He climbed onto the soft sheets and kneeled next to him, hovering over Donghyuck and wrapping his arms around the boy in the best hug that he could manage. There was no doubt that the embrace was awkward and embarrassing for the both of them, but Mark had a point to prove.

“Ugh gross,” Donghyuck whined in disgust, “get off.”

“No man, I need you to feel the love. Like _really_ feel it.”

“I feel it so stop it.”

Unconvinced that Donghyuck was feeling the love he was trying to spread, Mark stayed where he was. He even went as far as to lay all his weight on the boy, relaxing completely on top of him. Donghyuck grunted angrily as he tried to push Mark off of him, but the older boy stuck like gum. He struggled for fifteen seconds tops before he gave up and surrendered to the hug. Mark had enough energy to fight and resist him, but Donghyuck was already tired and emotionally drained from his day of being berated.

“Talk to me about your feelings, Hyuckie. It’s what I’m here for, as your best friend and your hyung,” Mark advised once Donghyuck had settled down again. He felt the younger boy relax under him as he began to accept the terms of the situation.

“Then you’ll stop trying to play Dr. Phil and the peacekeeper?”

“Yeah.”

Donghyuck breathed in a deep breath, letting out a shaky exhale. He might have been giving into Mark, but that still didn’t mean that he _wanted_ to talk about his feelings.

“It just,” Donghyuck paused to let out a quiet moan as Mark tried to push himself off. His hands pressed into his neck and chest accidentally, leaving Donghyuck breathless and in a bit of pain.

“It feels like no one likes me sometimes,” he continued, “kind of like… like I’m that unwanted step child in the movies, and everyone just has to deal with me because I’m here.”

When he heard a quiet hiccup leave his best friends mouth, all Mark wanted was to give him a real hug. He wondered how long Donghyuck had been keeping his feelings to himself, how long they had been building up and causing him self-doubt.

“A-and I know that if that were true, it’d be completely my fault. I disrespect and annoy all the hyungs. I-I’m always getting on their nerves, even if they don’t normally yell at me… I feel like I don’t belong here sometimes, like… like they all h-hate me. That’s probably not true at all, but it doesn’t change my feelings…”

Donghyuck’s sniffling increased the longer he talked, as did the amount of times his speech paused. Mark found himself unable to resist pulling the boy up so that he could give him a real hug. Donghyuck reciprocated it, shaky hands clutching the back of Mark’s cotton t-shirt.

“I-I’m just an annoying brat, Mark,” Donghyuck croaked into his shoulder. “I’m too proud to talk to anyone, or say sorry for anything.”

Mark held the younger boy tightly in his arms, bringing one hand up to thread through his brown locks.

“I know everyone blamed you today and that it wasn’t your fault for once,” Donghyuck grumbled begrudgingly into his shoulder at the for once, not seeing how this was supposed to make him feel better yet, “but we all appreciate you. You’re rude and infuriating a lot, even to me, but we couldn’t live without you. You’re our mood maker, Hyuckie. I can’t even begin to count the number of times that you’ve taken a tense situation and transformed it into a lighter mood.”

Donghyuck listened quietly, sniffling into his best friends shoulder as he continued praising him and pointing out his good traits.

“Not to mention you’re so kind and thoughtful whenever you’re not busy being a human replication of the devil. If you asked any of us to name nice things you’ve done for us individually in the past month,  
I’m sure we’d be able to give you an entire list. You’re important to all of us, alright?”

Not getting a response when he wanted one, Mark repeated, “Alright?”

Donghyuck nodded, his face rubbing against Mark’s shirt and hair tickling the skin of his neck.

“Please don’t ever think that we want you to change or be any different… We love you the way you are, annoying prick and all.”

Donghyuck remained in the comfort of his best friends embrace for a few more minutes before he finally let go. Mark took it as his cue to leave.

“I’ll leave you alone to continue crying now.”

“What sissy was crying?” Donghyuck retorted with an indignant snort.

“Right,” Mark agreed sarcastically.

“I’m not making you breakfast tomorrow just because you said some nice words to me,” Donghyuck warned. Mark giggled a little at the assumption.

“That’s what Taeyong’s for, idiot.”

The older boy got up from his seat on the bed and stumbled his way back over to the door. The trip out of the room wasn’t any easier than the trip in, but he managed. His hand fumbled in the dark in search of the doorknob.

“Mark?”

Mark paused at the soft call of his name.

“Yeah?”

“… Thanks.”

Mark smiled to himself as he quietly left the room, shutting the door gently behind him.

 

“So, when’s your honeymoon?”

“Shut the fuck up, hyung,” Donghyuck grumbled, pulling his sheets over his head in embarrassment.

“… I’m sorry, Donghyuckie. I didn’t mean to make you feel like that. I understand why you wouldn’t want to talk to anyone, being a teenager and all, but sometimes you need to—“

Donghyuck released a loud groan, effectively getting the older male to shut up.

“TY, please… Not right now. Please just be quiet and go to sleep.”

“… Fine. But I’m not done. I’m properly apologizing to you in the morning.”

 

Taeyong apologized to Donghyuck the next morning, immediately after he walked out of their room and into the general vicinity of the kitchen, where he was cooking breakfast. Although he was the only one who had witnessed his and Mark’s conversation, he had a feeling that the man had talked to the other members about it.

What other reason was there that they all kept coming up to him throughout the rest of the day, giving him long and drawn out hugs that he _definitely_ did not ask for?

 


End file.
